Wormwood Review

The Wormwood Review was a literary magazine published from Fall 1959 through April 1999. According to The Wormwood Review: A Brief History ( http://www.wormwoodreview.com/history.html ), the magazine was originally published in Mt. Hope, Connecticut, later moving to California.  The first issue was printed by three friends who used an antique letterpress located in a drafty barn on Wormwood hill. The motor of the press was not operational, consequently the press was operated manually, requiring a good deal of physical effort and precise timing. To brace themselves for the task, copious amounts of gin were consumed with the result that the type was crooked in many copies. The experience proved to be one that the publishers were not interested in repeating and subsequent issues were professionally printed.

Edward Gorey's one contribution to the Wormwood Review appears in Issue 84 (Volume 21, No.4), page 101, 700 copies, published in 1981. Mr. Gorey appears to have culled from one of his files of unused artwork, choosing an image from the early 1950's. The "Earbrass" style figure is identified at one Professor Q.E. Stramash, and obscure literary critic of appropriate eccentricity for a small literary publication. My favorite part of the illustration is the multiple pairs of eyeglasses scattered about Prof. Stramash's person.